Civil Engineering BEng (Hons) or MEng – 2019 entry

Why choose this course

Having offered degree programmes in civil engineering since the 1960s, the University of Surrey is recognised internationally as providing an excellent balance of academic studies, practical skills and professional experience.

Within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering we pride ourselves on the excellent standard of our teaching and research, as we bring together outstanding staff, exceptional students and cutting-edge facilities.

Taught by research-active academics in collaboration with industry professionals, our graduates are highly rated when they enter the workplace.

Surrey/ICE Scholarship

You could benefit from £1,850 (for 2019 entry) to support your studies, salaried training in every year of your programme, plus fast track education combining academic and industrial experience to enhance your career potential.

What you will study

Our accredited MEng and BEng programmes are designed to give you the knowledge and skills you need for a rewarding career as a chartered civil engineer.

You will gain a sound understanding of mathematical, analytical and practical engineering techniques – giving you the foundation for developing safe, sustainable and cost-effective design ideas – along with the management skills needed to bring projects into reality.

You will critically review, consolidate and extend your knowledge within the area of civil engineering. You will also develop specialised skills, evaluate new concepts, and apply your diagnostic and creative skills.

These courses have been accredited by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT).

You can apply to study for either a BEng or MEng (Masters of Engineering). The MEng builds on the BEng programme with a masters year, and is a direct route to a masters qualification. Depending on your progress, you may have the option to switch to a BEng or MEng during your studies.

Professional Training placements

As part of this course you have the option to complete a Professional Training placement. These will give you the opportunity to develop your professional, academic and personal potential, equipping you to be adaptable, resilient, globally minded, confident, entrepreneurial and digitally savvy in the workplace. These qualities are widely recognised by employers and a significant proportion of placement students at Surrey are offered graduate-level jobs or go onto postgraduate study.

Civil Engineering placements

Taking a Professional Training placement enables you to try out a specialised engineering sector, earn a salary, enhance your CV and build up a network of contacts, as well as enabling you to apply and enhance the skills you’re learning and appreciate things that you cannot learn in a lecture or laboratory.

The enhanced interpersonal and management skills you gain will be highly valued by employers, giving you a real head start as you enter the job market. Students also often find that in additional to enabling them to apply and enhance their skills, the year deepens their understanding of their studies in the later stages of their degree programme.

Placements also normally contribute towards the requirements for becoming a chartered civil engineer.

Arrangements for your placement are made through the University. During the placement you are employed by a company but are still a member of the University and you will be visited by a Professional Training placement tutor, who will monitor your progress and liaise with your company. Occasionally students secure overseas placements.

The Professional Training placement is optional. Some of the companies that participate in the Professional Training year include:

Atkins

Balfour Beatty

Waterman

Costain

Hewson

Bachy Soletanche

Eurovia.

Applying for placements

Professional Training placements are usually applied for and secured via an open and free-to-all process, within which students can select and apply for numerous opportunities. Placement providers use their own recruitment and selection procedures and the majority of students will secure their placement in this way. However, support is also provided to students wishing to source their own placement, subject to university requirements being met.

Students are generally not placed by the University, however they are given thorough support and guidance alongside access to a vacancy portal representing thousands of placement opportunities each year. Please be aware there may be travel costs incurred when attending interviews and assessment centres at the placement provider’s premises.

Professional recognition

Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation (CIHT)
Accredited by the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer and partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer.

Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE)
Accredited by the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer and partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer.

Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
Accredited by Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer and partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer.

Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE)
Accredited by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer and partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer.

European Accreditation of Engineering Programmes (EUR-ACE)
This Programme is accredited by the European Accreditation of Engineering Programmes (EUR-ACE)

Careers and graduate prospects

We find that the work record established during Professional Training placements gives our students a decided advantage when employers are making offers.

Recent graduates are working for a wide range of companies, including major consultancies and contractors such as Costain, Atkins, WSP, Skanska, Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald.

As our graduates are highly numerate, literate, computer literate, organised, confident, business minded and commercially aware, they are also very attractive recruits for companies operating in many other professions including management, banking, accountancy and software development.

A degree in civil engineering from Surrey is an excellent foundation for your career in the construction industry, and in professions far removed from engineering.

Recent graduates have entered employment in roles such as:

Graduate Site Manager, Walker Construction

Graduate Civil Engineer, Atkins

Graduate Civil Engineer, Mott Macdonald

Assistant Project Manager, Lendlease Group

Structural Engineer, GDC Partnership

Graduate Structural Engineer, ARUP

Graduate Site Engineer, Costain.

Study and work abroad

We give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities or by completing a Professional Training placement abroad. In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV. Visit our global exchanges pages to check where you can go.

The international exchange programme offers undergraduate students the opportunity to study abroad at a partner university for either one semester or a full academic year as part of their degree. Currently, for students on the civil engineering programmes this is possible in your second year at one of these partner institutions:

US (Texas, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Florida, Virginia and California)

Australia (La Trobe, Monash, Swinburne in Melbourne; the University of Sydney, Wollongong or Queensland in Australia)

Singapore

South Korea

Malaysia

Hong Kong

New Zealand.

The exchange programme enables you to study and live in another country without paying additional tuition fees to the partner. In doing so you will broaden your horizons, meet other students from around the world and experience student life in some of the most prestigious universities in the world. Studying abroad also enables you to become more independent, teaching you how to adapt and adjust to the culture and academic climate of another country.

You may also choose to undertake a Professional Training placement in another country. Students have worked at Hewson Consulting, WSP Parson Brinkerhoff, and Arup in Hong Kong, Melcro Crown in Macau, Ryobi-Kiso in Singapore and Al Shafar Contracting in India.

If you work in another part of Europe you will be eligible for an Erasmus+ grant.

This is an excellent opportunity not only to acquire valuable work experience but also to improve or learn another language.

Facilities

Specialised facilities include:

Structures (Instron) laboratory

Purpose-built soil mechanics and geology laboratories

Composites technology laboratory

Centre for Environmental Health Engineering (CEHE)

Six wind tunnels including an environmental wind tunnel.

Academic year structure

The academic year is divided into two semesters of 15 weeks each. Each semester consists of a period of teaching, revision/directed learning and assessment.

The University operates a credit framework for all taught programmes based on a 15-credit tariff. All taught modules are 15 credits. Project modules and dissertation modules can be either 15, 30, 45 or 60 credits.

The structure of our programmes follows clear educational aims that are tailored to each programme. These are all outlined in the programme specifications which include further details such as the learning outcomes.

Modules

Modules listed are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that modules may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.

Students must take ENGM001 Multidisciplinary Design Project and choose TWO modules from SEMESTER 1 and FOUR modules from SEMESTER 2 at FHEQ Level 7

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before the start of the semester. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week (Monday–Friday). Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities. Part-time classes are normally scheduled on one or two days per week, details of which can be obtained from the course administrators.

Teaching

All our degrees are organised on a modular basis, with teaching delivered via a mix of formal lectures, seminars, tutorials and laboratory classes.

For many subjects, you will also be able to take advantage of our online electronic teaching resources which both supplement and extend the material being presented.

The material, at all levels, seeks to provide a core knowledge of the various subjects, which you are expected to extend with personal research and learning guided by tutorials and other material.

The balance between lectures and less formal tutorials and laboratory classes varies between levels and semesters.

There may be occasions when the delivery of your teaching is supported by postgraduate research students. The University has a set of procedures that govern the use of postgraduate research students in this way.

Staff

Programme leader

Personal tutor

All taught students are assigned a personal tutor before beginning a programme of study. Personal tutors offer support and advice to students in the areas of:

Academic progress

Pastoral/welfare issues

Personal/professional development and employability.

Assessment

Modules are assessed individually and credits are awarded for the successful completion of each one. Assessment takes place through a combination of examination and/or coursework, practical examinations and reports. Check individual module information to see full details at a module level.

Contact hours

Contact hours can vary across our modules. Full details of the contact hours for each module are available from the University of Surrey's module catalogue. See the modules section for more information.

Policies and regulations

Learning and disability support

We have two services, the Student Personal Learning and Study Hub (SPLASH) and Additional Learning Support (ALS) which can help develop your learning.

Student Personal Learning and Study Hub

SPLASH is a learning space in the Library where our learning development team is based. It comprises dedicated Student Learning Advisers and Information Skills Librarians who can help you develop your academic and research skills, including writing, presenting, revision and critical thinking.

Additional Learning Support

ALS is the University’s disability and neurodiversity service which supports students with disabilities, long-term health conditions, specific learning differences (for example: dyslexia and dyspraxia) and other neurodiverse conditions (for example: autism spectrum and attention deficit disorder).

If you have a disability, we encourage you to disclose your condition and register with the service so you can be appropriately supported during your studies.

The ALS team can arrange exam and learning support adjustments, give advice on applications for the Disabled Students' Allowance and screen students for dyslexia and dyspraxia. Regular study skills and mentoring support is also available.

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English language requirements

If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses, designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here. The University of Surrey is also an IELTS test centre.

Selection process

Offers are normally made in terms of grades.

Suitable candidates will be invited to an Applicant Day. During the visit to the University the candidate can find out more about the programme and meet staff and students.

Recognition of prior learning

The University of Surrey recognises that many students enter their higher education course with valuable knowledge and skills developed through a range of professional, vocational and community contexts. If this applies to you, a process called recognition of prior learning (RPL) may allow you to enter your course at a point appropriate to your previous learning and experience, or to join the start of a course without the formal entry requirements. This means that you may be exempt from certain elements of study in the course for which you have applied and be awarded credit based on your previous qualifications/experience. There are restrictions on RPL for some courses and fees may be payable for certain claims.